What does God have to say about drinking alcohol?

God does have some things to say about alcohol. I believe that alcohol is one of the great tools of the enemy in derailing lives that may have otherwise been lived in service of Christ. Your friends and family may not see the danger in it….but no one down at the treatment center planned on being there. Drinking alcohol is like poking a deadly snake with a stick. “At the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.” (Proverbs 23:32)

Alcohol is a mood altering drug that has been the source of tremendous heartache and pain for countless thousands upon thousands who thought they could handle it as well as those who love them. Ephesians 4:27 instructs us not to “…give place to the Devil.” As the enemy gains ground into our lives, his purposes begin to manifest themselves. He has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

Addiction to alcohol is a problem of immeasurable proportions in our land, and sipping saints are a problem within the church. Our culture has been negatively affected by the use and abuse of alcohol. The church has been compromised as well. Scripture tells us to be set apart from the world. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 6:17). How can we expect to impact the world when the church is too worldly for them to see a difference?

When we drink alcohol, I believe it stunts our growth….our spiritual growth. I have a hard time believing that anyone would offer Jesus a glass of wine or a beer if He stopped over at their house. How would you feel if He came by and you were in the middle of a cold one? And the temptation to hold on to this vice keeps us from growing to our potential.

Many can rationalize the use of alcohol (rationalize = to find false reasons for unworthy behavior). They cite scriptures that mention wine. But keep this in mind, the word used for “wine” in scripture refers to the fruit of the vine. It is the same word referring to grapes still on the cluster. In some references it is fermented and others it is not. To think that Jesus turned water into fermented wine goes against everything we understand about the person and nature of Jesus. Doesn’t it?

And if you can still justify drinking alcohol after all that, I urge you to consider that you are being a stumbling block to unbelievers and to those weaker in the faith. I Corinthians 8:9 says, “But take heed lest by any means this liberty (speaking of our liberty in Christ) of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak.” “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably (not in love). Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.” (Romans 14:15)

“Wine is a mocker…whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). It leads to many things; woe, sorrow, contentions, babbling, wounds without cause, redness of eyes, the beholding of strange women (or men, as the case may be), and the uttering of perverse things. All this can be found in Proverbs 23:29-35. Chapter 31 of the same book says that it will make you forget the law and pervert your judgment. Is it really worth the risk? Is it God’s best for us…or have we given ground to the Devil himself?